Voivod
Voivoid, also known as The Waster, is the greatest evil and final enemy of the Fighting Fantasy gamebook Legend of the Shadow Warriors. He is the Demon of War of the World of Titan and an avatar of some sort of death itself. He once invaded the entire world of Titan, until he was sealed away by the Gods. The playable hero must stop him once and for all as he is about to be freed by his generals, the Shadow Warriors. Background Voivod, also remembered as the Waster, and the Night Dragon number among the most powerful evil forces to ever plague the world of Titan, to an even higher level than the Demon Princes themselves. He was a major, if not the most prominent, servant of Death (the elder of the High Lords of Evil and Chaos: the Demon Gods Death, Disease and Decay, named after what mankind deems the worst scourges in existence). He is always surrounded by the fearsome Shadow Warriors, who serve as his generals and his bodyguards. Voivod is mentioned in the Tale of the First Battle (which opposed the Gods and the Demon Gods and ended when the Demon Gods were cast into the Void), during which he fought as one of the Demon Gods' most dreadful champions. When the war was over, he managed to escape banishment and disappeared for eons. Around two thousand years before the start of the gamebook, Voivod had invaded the entire world of Titan. He took down the best protected fortresses and reanimated the soldiers who fell against his forces to increase his ranks, depriving the departed of the fair rest they deserved. Wherever he went, grass and vegetation were not to grow again. One day, the God King Titan and the Earth Goddess Throff fought and defeated him, though unable to kill an avatar of death they sealed him into a jail known as the Zarrikiz Shrine. The Shadow Warriors disappeared never to be seen for ages, but they were not imprisoned and would one day resurface to set their lord free. Appearance and Characteristics Voivod is a demonic personification of Death, War and Chaos. He is only represented at the end of the gamebook, when the hero succeeds in freeing his host (or former self), with one half demon and one half human, but he is seen tall, threatening and formidable. He wears a spiked armour darker than shadow itself, with clawed gauntlets and a diabolical-looking horned helmet, and the narration states that merely looking at him is a shattering experience. Considering the fact that when Voivod's evil is fully destroyed he becomes human again, it can be guessed that either he was once a human corrupted to a point that no other reached before or after him, or used as a vessel by the Demon Gods to create the entity known as Voivod; or that he is an evil ethereal entity that must possess a host in order to interact with the world. It is recorded that he was unspeakably cruel to both the livings he slaughtered and the deads (mostly his victims) he enslaved by the thousands. He is hateful, bloodthirsty, and revels in warfare and violence. He never speaks to the playable character, probably deeming it futile, but he appears as a no-nonsense nemesis who lets none of his foes' blunders pass and fights to the fullest. He is a formidable warrior and strategist, who fights with his armed gauntlets (an in-universe illustration also depicts him with an axe and a sword). As the Master of Death and War, Voivod can absorb the life-force that his enemies lose under his blows and can reanimate and control undeads at will. Even worse, he cannot be defeated in a regular fight. Even if someone brave and skilled enough were to perform such a feat, they would die a gruesome death and would likely serve as the Waster's new host. To defeat Voivod for good, one must first banish the five Shadow Warriors who protect him into the limbo. Indeed the fearsome demon is linked to his generals and cannot be defeated as long as they walk the earth. Then, should the hero survive to these encouters, Voivod can only be defeated by infusing him with life-force, as weapons crafted to bring death only fuel his evil. ''Legend of the Shadow Warriors'' The story begins five years after the gruesome War of the Four Kingdoms, during which the kingdoms of Brice, Femphrey and Lendleland waged war against the prosperous kingdom of Gallantaria: the former centre of the continent of the Old World, whose king was killed during the war. Peace has returned but xenophobic conspirators remain, plotting to take down the newly created alliance and restart the war. Much worse, the War was violent enough to trigger the upcoming freedom of Voivod. The Shadow Warriors have resurfaced and started attacking the village of Karnstein, looking for their liege's prison. With no one believing in them, being only remembered as mere bogey men from nursery-rhymes, the people of Karnstein's pleas for help was met with nothing but laughter. The playable character is a famous Gallantarian veteran and mercenary, who meets villagers from Karnstein and agrees to investigate (under the impression that this is nothing but disguised bandits). The game itself begins in Royal Lendle, the capital of Gallantaria. After exiting the city, the hero is attacked by the Shadow Warriors who slaughter the villagers. They barely escape and start travelling towards Karnstein humiliated, swearing to avenge the innocents they failed to protect. During their quest, they encounter the Gods themselves, who chose them as their champion against Voivod. They tell them to find the Astrakkan Numeris, a book written by the blind numerologist Parcleasus (or to find Parcleasus himself) in order to learn where Voivod can be found when the time comes. The hero will also need to learn everything about Voivod, and not waste any time. Later the Gods grant them the mighty Spear of Doom, the holy weapon that they forged, which gives life to what is dead and death to what lives. Depending on the path chosen, the hero will have to face many evil creatures brought forth by the evil energies spread by Voivod's imminent return. Among such evils, are the Mandrakes, plant-like monsters who use the cover of the Circus of Dreams to visit towns where they impersonate people and take their places. (The Mandrakes are based on the Pod People from'' Invasion of the Body Snatchers''.) There is also the vampire-witch Urtha and her army of Haggworts (powerful scarecrow-like chaotic monsters), the mad doctor Kauderwelsh (a female scientist who built a dangerous Frankenstein-like monster), a dark elf temple full of dangerous monsters, a Gorgon in a cave, and finally a warmongering orc who is manipulating war veterans. Upon finally reaching Karnstein, exiting the dangerous mountains of the Witchtooth Line, it is already too late. The Shadow Warriors have freed Voivod and if they cannot be found, the earth swallows the hero and Titan is doomed. Facing Voivod Voivod went to an ancient battlefield, where ten thousand men were hastily buried. He plans to raise them as skeleton-warriors, to invade Titan once more and take it over. The hero can test their skill to either destroy the cursed bell used to raise the dead with a withering substance, or tackle Voivod away from it, but a failure results in the Waster destroying them in a single strike. The Warlord of the Apocalypse is surrounded by the skeletons he already raised, who strike the hero down if they attack. The hero must fight every Shadow Warriors they could not banish. Without the Spear of Doom, or at least the ring of Rabbam, it proves challenging. Voivod himself is a powerful and dangerous enemy. He has 10 in skill (level of power) and 10 in stamina (life points) and he gains the stamina points lost under his blows. Worse, defeating the fearsome Master of Death in a normal battle only leads to a game over, as Voivod is death itself and death cannot be killed. Voivod must be successfully struck with the Spear of Doom without regard for his stats. Missing a strike deplete the Spear's power and makes the next attempt riskier and fully depleting it makes the Spear vanishes, with no choice left but a normal battle that cannot be won. As such, the hero must carefully keep the Spear's power as close to its peak as possible. If they never used it, they should be able to destroy Voivod without major trouble. When Voivod gets struck by the Spear of Doom, his evil instantly vanishes and his human self (or human host) is finally free to live normally again… Marvelling at the sweetness of nature he had long forgotten and weeping from the "simple joy of being alive". Trivia *"Voivoid" is a slavic term that means "warlord" or "army leader" and was used in all central and eastern Europe during the Middle-Age. A fitting name for the Demon of War. *He is alternatively referred to as "Voivod" like a name, or "The Voivod" like a title, but the former is prevalent, establishing it as his name proper. *Given how powerful Voivod is, his stats could have been expected higher, as he is 2 points below the maximum level of skill. (Several powerful villains exceed this maximum.) However, his life-devouring ability would make him nearly invincible with 12 in skill or higher. In fact, the author, Stephen Hand, deliberately made the fight anti-climactic, as the point is to redeem him instead of destroying him, contrasting the violent final battles prevalent in such tgames. *Voivod shares similarities with two other Fighting Fantasy villains Mortis of Balthor and Belgaroth, who are also powerful dark knights defeated long ago, who return and need a magical spear to be destroyed. Belgaroth is more similar, as he is also a Chaos Lord who commands a formidable group of warriors, and whose return causes the rise of many evil creatures. Although Voivod is the most demonic, the most influential and the most powerful of the three, he is the medium hardest to defeat and the weakest in terms of skill and stamina. Category:Warlords Category:Fantasy Villains Category:Gamebooks Villains Category:Evil from the Past Category:Male Category:Death Gods Category:Dark Forms Category:Dark Knights Category:Tyrants Category:Demon Category:Monster Master Category:Immortals Category:Fighters Category:Leader Category:Hegemony Category:Redeemed Category:Murderer